So the other day when I went to do some editing on my macbook pro, FCP (latest version), my Lacie 2TB external hard drive stopped working. It still powered up and after communicating the symptoms with LaCie company, they said "the symptoms show a corruption of the data on the drive". And that I would need to do data recovery, then reformat my LaCie and start over. So I have all my video projects on this LaCie that I want to try to recover and I don't want to pay somebody $600 to do data recovery. Wondering if I could try to do data recovery myself. Is there a data recovery software program you guys can recommend? I have since invested in a G-drive external hard drive so I have that drive to use to recovery my data to. help? Suggestions? If I recover the data, am I also recovering my edit decision lists intact? In other words, can I save my edited projects? Or am I just recovering the raw video clips? Thank you in advance for your help!

But don't jump to conclusions yet. Run DiskWarrior first. Corrupted directory is the #1 issue with external drives, and easily fixable. If that doesn't work, another option is to recover the disk inside the drive and pair it with a new enclosure. I haven't used Lacies in years, but I remember the enclosure and controller being the true weak spot, that the actual disk inside could be fine and still hold your data intact.

As for your project files, you really should have been doing manual backups at least after every session. If your drive really is lost, your chances of recovering all the files intact are not great. You may be better off going to your Autosave Vault for the project file/editing decisions, and recapturing for your media.

My Lacie 'rugged' failed after not even after two months (thankfully i'd backed up) the g-raid i replaced it with has traveled with me on planes and trains for 9 months now and remains rock-solid. Personally i think Lacie drives are more suited to text document storage than video editing, i'd never under any circumstances buy one of their products again and have since warned at least two fellow editors on the go, to back up their projects immediately and get a g-raid.

I use iBackup to automatically make a backup of my Projects folder (as well as other important folders that have constantly changing data), I have it set to backup every night to a separate hard drive. Many of my projects use video that is off tape, so as long as I backup the project file, the video files can always be recaptured from the original tapes.

I will be checking out that LaCie utility, as I have had two drives (6 years old with nothing crucial on them) that have failed in the past 6 months.

My demo of MiniTool Mac Data Recovery is the only software that recognizes there is a drive connected to my Mac in the first place....what good is DiskWarrior when the drive doesn't show up on your desktop?? Like I said, none of the data on my bad drive is crucial, so I'm not interested in purchasing new software at this point, but I am interested in learning how to do this...just in case.

Many years ago in the days of OS 8.6 and lower, I had Norton Disk Doctor, which was able to read floppy discs that had corrupted directories, and then make the necessary repairs.

What happened? Can't you simply repair a corrupt directory file any more? Maybe I'll try plugging this old hard drive into my iMac with OS 8.6 on it...run the good ol' Norton Disk Doctor and see what happens.

For some folks here, LaCie drives are "notoriously unreliable." For others they are just fine. I am in that category. I know their limits, I don't use them to serve HD flavors of any kind, only DV, and I rarely hammer them heavily. And I do something I bet a lot of folks who complain about them do not: I plug them directly into a voltage-filtering (AVR) UPS unit.

All of which I believe is why they don't crash or fail. And I count 15 on the shelf and two on the machine.

I also dismount them properly by dragging them to the trash before shutting down, and I mount them AFTER the machine is booted.

I also use Firewire cables with static arrestors.

This is *years* of experience with these D2 Quadra units by now.

As for your projects, never EVER store your live project on a scratch disk of any kind.

> And I do something I bet a lot of folks who complain about them do not: I plug them
> directly into a voltage-filtering (AVR) UPS unit.

That's not really relevant in this case. The Lacie Ruggeds are bus-powered.

Any bus-powered drive is at extra risk because of heat issues and the sheer small size of the components. I find full-sized Lacie drives to be the worst in their class, but among mini drives, I've been using a Lacie Rugged as a transport drive for several years with no issues, and it doesn't perform better or worse than other brands of bus-powered drives I've used. Doesn't mean it won't die at some point. All drives die; mini bus-powered drives die faster.

I have seven-year-old Promax drives that still perform at 100 per cent. I haven't seen any full-sized Lacie last even half that long. G-Tech drives are a little better than Lacies, but still not great.

Lacie = death for everyone I know who has ever owned one (except Loren). I was given a 500 GB Rugged as a transport drive by a client. I warn them all the time that pinching pennies can be dangerous and in all probability it will fail at any time. I would NEVER USE A LACIE FOR REAL WORK. I back up my transport files on my own Time Machine along with my CalDigitVR. I don't trust Lacie as far as I can throw it.

My advice to anyone with a failing Lacie is to do whatever you can to get it running again, back it up to a dependable unit (preferably a CalDigit or NuTech), then burn it.

I have used a software called "Kernel for Windows Data Recovery" which works perfectly fine for me and recovered all my data from my external drive, moreover the software manual provide step by step guide to recover data so that even a novice user can easily recover data.

Well,
I'm with Loren. I've used Lacie d2 drives and now the ruggedized drives for years. I have 6 d2's of all sizes that have been used heavily for long form projects. I use the orange drives in the field. Never a problem...

Ah...back from the dead is this post because these drives die more than the others...

Quote
"Now yesterday, it stopped showing up on the desktop. Do I do something wrong"

Unfortunately, yes. You put your trust in a G-RAID. LaCie + G-Technology stuff is garbage. Hindsight being 20/20, CalDigit is STILL the way to go these last few years in my humble opinion (I have a VR - 2 TB RAID "0" work drive and a VR2 - 6 TB RAID "0" redundant backup drive) and they just rolled out their Thunderbolt line for NAB (yummy):

We had a bunch of LaCies at my work too, and used them for RAIDs before getting more internal storage. Unfortunately, at least half of them also died on us. I wouldn't ever buy a LaCie after that disaster.

I believe Lacie got in trouble way back when drives were fairly costly compared to today. Then they came out with their first 500 gig drives and up and that is when people started to complain. I own 3 older Lacies, 120, 200 and 320 gigs, use them just for archiving these days. Of course, they are all backed up a few times on other drives as well. Have never had a problem with them. Until tomorrow probably.
Steve

Well in this case you need to seek for data recovery as your LaCie drive seem to be corrupted. This is the reason why FCP data stored is inaccessible. FOr more details for how to recover data from LaCie external hard drive: